Swiss authorities have ordered residents to abandon a tiny mountain village in the eastern district of Graubünden because of fears it could soon be buried beneath a collapsing mountainside.
A thick coat of fog covered the mountaintop overlooking the village of Brienz on Thursday, where vegetation has been replaced by a slope of mud and rocks.
Farm workers could be seen loading cows onto a truck and driving it out of the nearly deserted village. Some areas were cordoned off, with yellow warning signs in five languages that read: "Attention rockfall."
Local authorities say Brienz is at risk because 2 million cubic metres of rock could soon break off the mountain, damaging or outright crushing its quaint homes.
"The rock moves at a speed of up to 36 metres per year," said Christian Gartmann, a member of the crisis management board of Albula, a municipality that includes Brienz.
"We expect it to fall towards the village within the next few days or weeks."
He said experts estimate there's a 60 per cent chance that the rock will fall in smaller chunks, which may not reach the village or the valley. The landslide could also move slowly.
But there's also a 10 per cent chance that the whole 2 million cubic metre mass may tumble down, threatening lives, property and the village itself, he said.
"We hope that the village stays intact," Mr Gartmann said.
"We can't eliminate the possibility that it (the rock) will come down. … It could damage the village or destroy it."
Mr Gartmann said glacier melt had affected the precariousness of the rocks over millennia but that melting glaciers due to "man-made" climate change in recent decades wasn't a factor.
Brienz's population of fewer than 100 people have been given until Friday evening to evacuate.
The village's mayor, Daniel Albertin, is confident all residents will have left by then.
"This is a huge task for the entire community," he said.
One farmer, tending to the cows being evacuated, agreed.
"It's just a big effort for us now," Hanneke Bonifaci said as she opened their enclosure.
"It's a very short time, but it's doable."
The extent of the damage that could fall upon Brienz remains anyone's guess.
"The rock can come down in sections, which would be the most favourable solution," Mr Gartmann said.
"It can also fall all at once, which would be disastrous for the village."
Landslide slowing moving
The mountain and the rocks on it have been moving since the last Ice Age, local officials say.
But measurements indicated a "strong acceleration over a large area" in recent days, and "up to 2 million cubic metres of rock material will collapse or slide in the coming seven to 24 days," officials said.
Over the last century, the village itself has moved a few centimetres each year, but the movement sped up over the last 20 years.
Climate change is putting Switzerland at increased risk of natural hazards, including an increase in erosion due to higher temperatures, Swiss authorities say.
The landslide has been moving about a metre per year.
Geological surveys suggest the situation has become even more precarious.
ABC/Wires
